Is a Financial Advisor Worth 1%? Exent vs an Advisor
What a 1% advisory fee costs over 10, 20 and 30 years, what the fee actually pays for, and how Exent gives you a full analysis of your portfolio for a flat subscription.
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Should I Fire My Financial Advisor and DIY? A Checklist
Leaving an advisor can save thousands a year, but only if you replace what the advisor actually did. Here is a decision checklist, what doing it yourself takes, and how to manage the first months on your own.
Key takeaways
- Leaving tends to make sense if you mainly paid for picking investments and you will keep a written plan, rebalance and hold through crashes. Illustratively, a 1% fee on $500,000 is $5,000 a year.
- Advisors earn their fee mostly on planning: taxes, retirement income, estate questions and keeping clients from selling in a panic.
- Low-cost index funds are a hard baseline to beat: in Exent’s data, only 152 of 422 large US stocks beat the S&P 500 over 10 years.
- Before selling anything after a switch, check the tax cost. Holdings can often be transferred in kind, without selling.
In this article
- Should I fire my financial advisor and do it myself?
- A decision checklist before you leave
- What does the fee cost, and what does a crash test?
- What does DIY investing need?
- I left my advisor. How do I manage my portfolio now?
- Common mistakes after leaving an advisor
- How do I get a second look once I am on my own?
Should I fire my financial advisor and do it myself?
It can make sense if what you mainly paid for was choosing investments, and you are willing to do the routine work yourself. It makes less sense if the advisor handles complex taxes, retirement income, an estate or a business, or if they are the reason you did not sell in the last crash.
The decision is not “advisor good” or “advisor bad”. It is whether the services you actually use are worth the fee to you. Write down what your advisor did for you in the past year. If the list is “picked funds and sent statements”, software and a simple index portfolio can cover most of it.
A decision checklist before you leave
- You can name your target mix of stocks, bonds and cash, and why it fits you.
- You have a rebalancing rule, for example once a year or when a weight drifts by more than 5 points.
- You held, or would hold, through a drop like 2020 without selling.
- Your taxes are simple, or you will pay a tax professional separately.
- You know what each account holds and what it costs in total.
- You will set aside time each quarter for a review, and actually do it.
- You have a plan for the questions that need an expert: retirement income, estate, insurance.
What does the fee cost, and what does a crash test?
The fee is charged on the whole balance every year, so its cost compounds. Illustrative: $500,000 earning 7% a year before fees, with and without a 1% advisory fee.
| Years | No advisory fee (7%) | After a 1% fee (6%) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $984,000 | $895,000 | $88,000 |
| 20 | $1,935,000 | $1,604,000 | $331,000 |
| 30 | $3,806,000 | $2,872,000 | $934,000 |
Illustrative, rounded, ignoring taxes and fund expenses; not a forecast. The other side of the ledger is behavior. In Exent’s data, as of Sep 30, 2026, the S&P 500 fell 34.1% peak to trough in the 2020 COVID crash: about $170,000 on an illustrative $500,000 in stocks. If selling at that point is likely, the fee savings can disappear in a single bad decision. Compare the trade-offs in is a financial advisor worth 1%?
What does DIY investing need?
| What the advisor did | What replaces it when you DIY |
|---|---|
| Chose investments | A simple core of low-cost index funds, plus any individual stocks you size on purpose |
| Rebalanced | A written rule and a calendar reminder |
| Monitored risk | A quarterly check of concentration, overlap and crash loss in dollars |
| Tax planning | A CPA or enrolled agent, paid by the hour or per return |
| Retirement income and estate | A fee-only planner, hired per project |
| Talked you out of panic | A written plan you read before acting in a downturn |
The index core matters. In Exent’s data, only 152 of the 422 large US stocks with 10 years of history beat the S&P 500 index over that period, and the list leaves out companies that shrank or disappeared, which flatters the result. See robo-advisor vs advisor vs DIY.
I left my advisor. How do I manage my portfolio now?
- Move the accounts without selling, where possible. An in-kind transfer keeps your holdings and avoids triggering taxes in taxable accounts.
- List everything in one place: every holding, its value, its expense ratio and your cost basis.
- Check the structure before changing anything: allocation, overlap, concentration and crash loss.
- Simplify gradually, starting with tax-advantaged accounts, where selling does not create a tax bill.
- Write the plan down: target mix, rebalancing rule and what you will do in a 30% drop.
Common mistakes after leaving an advisor
- Selling the whole portfolio at once in a taxable account and creating a large capital gains bill.
- Replacing a diversified portfolio with a few favorite stocks.
- Dropping planning altogether: tax and estate questions do not go away when the advisor does.
- Checking the portfolio daily. A quarterly review with a fixed checklist is usually enough.
How do I get a second look once I am on my own?
Replace the advisor’s risk review with a regular check-up. Each quarter, check concentration, overlap between funds, a crash replay in dollars and the result against a benchmark with similar risk. Rebalance only when an allocation has drifted past the range you wrote down. Use our portfolio health check as the quarterly routine. If you still want an advisor for specific questions, check their record on FINRA BrokerCheck first.
How to replace the advisor’s risk review with Exent
- Upload a screenshot or file of your holdings (CSV, Excel, PDF or Google Sheet); no brokerage login.
- Exent runs 16 checks in about a minute, including concentration, correlation clusters, crash replays and a risk‑matched benchmark.
- Before a rebalance, test the new weights in the what‑if simulator; Exent explains what it finds and does not give personal advice.
Frequently asked questions
It can be if you mainly paid for investment selection and you will follow a written plan on your own. If the advisor handles complex taxes, retirement income or keeps you from panic selling, the fee may be worth it.
On $500,000 it is $5,000 in the first year. Illustratively, at 7% a year before fees, it leaves about $331,000 less after 20 years.
A target allocation, low-cost funds for the core, a rebalancing rule, a quarterly risk check and a written plan for downturns. Pay specialists separately for taxes or estate questions.
Moving accounts in kind usually does not trigger taxes. Selling holdings in a taxable account can, so check with a tax professional before making changes.
Yes. Many fee-only planners work hourly or per project, which lets you manage the investments yourself and pay only for the advice you use.
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Educational content, not investment advice. Examples are illustrative; past performance does not guarantee future results.